This is a purely descriptive and in many ways a delightful, disarming book. One blissfully without heavy theories or weighty explanations. Morris et al. decided to track the distribution and meaning of a score of human gestures—from commonplaces like thumbing your nose to more esoteric hand flicks and eye pulls—that exist in Europe and presumably have crossed the Atlantic in waves of immigration. The researchers showed standard drawings of the gestures to male adults (usually samples of over a thousand) and asked if the gesture was used locally and what it meant. (They felt that women would be hard to approach because of taboos, or because of the obscene nature of some of the gestures.) The results are a melange of curiosities and speculations. Nobody understands why nose thumbing is universally insulting, but you may believe, if you want to, that it has to do with making exaggerated waxen effigies in ridicule, or that it was initiated by medieval jesters. On the other hand, the forearm jerk is so clearly a phallic gesture of insult (or occasionally arousal) that in Malta a person can be arrested for making the display in public. And so on, to the vertical horn sign, the cheek stroke, the fig, the nose tap. . . and some concluding observations on cultural barriers and diffusion, gesture replacement, class differences. To be read for its compelling universal interest—and maybe for information should you be traveling to Naples. Equally hard to resist is the impulse to mimic every sign as it comes along. Thumbs up!
Pub Date: June 28, 1979
ISBN: 0812860543
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Stein & Day
Review Posted Online: May 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1979
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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